PW06 Life-Cycle Assessment
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Wednesday
(PW049) Life Cycle Assessment for triple bottom Line in Thermal Power Sector.
Khanna, P1, Ramrakhiani, S1, Deb, S1, Joshi, S1, Raichura, P1, Apte, S1, 1 SIES-Indian Institute of Environment Management, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
ABSTRACT- The LCA (Gate-to-Gate) of power generation process at two pulverized-coal based power plants viz. Gandhinagar (870 MW) and Ukai (850 MW) thermal power stations was performed during 2001-03. Inventory matrices for the resource use, and the waste generation per KWh of power were prepared followed by impact assessment where environmental and human health effects associated with the stressors, quantified through inventory analysis, were examined. Societal perception-based effect scores were compared with appropriate benchmarks to obtain environmental scores. Impact assessment quantitatively brought forth critical areas for examination during the improvement analyses. The improvement assessment was performed at three levels, i.e. resource usages, process improvements and house keeping, identifying measures whose implementation will cost-effectively abate negative environmental effects and concurrently improve generation efficiency. The improvement assessment revealed that the quality of coal fed to the boilers do not confirm to the boiler design specifications leading to frequent forced outages, overload on electrostatic precipitators, and ash disposal systems. The air pollution and ash were also ranked as the most vital problems by the contiguous population. The deployment of optimally-blended biotechnologically-treated- and washed indigenous coal, neural-network based integrative improvements in ESP performance, closure of the water loop, implementation of scientifically determined maintenance schedule thereby enhancing reliability of the boilers along with the measures identified to reduce auxiliary consumption will significantly improve the environmental performance of the plants while accruing substantial revenue savings. This research brings forth the utility of LCA as a neo-classical environment management tool in achieving economically-efficient, environmentally-responsible, and socially-relevant power sector in India.
Key words: gate to gate life cycle assessment, power sector, societal perception, environmentally responsible